


Traitor Mine

by ylissianknights



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: And he has to learn to handle it, Angst, Blink-and-you-miss-it ship teases, Character Study, Conquest Route, Familial Bonds, Friendship, Gen, Grief, Kaze siding with Nohr has Consequences, Mourning, Post-Game, aftermath of war, background Shura/Corrin, moving on from loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27055933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ylissianknights/pseuds/ylissianknights
Summary: "Not that your pain isn't delicious," Niles drawls, letting go of the other man's arm and stepping aside, "But it's been a while since the end of the war. Maybe you shouldn't be here. Considering some of the things I've heard... Maybe you should be trying to put yourself together instead of trying so hard to fall apart."Kaze looks at the man in shock. Niles shrugs nonchalantly."Just a thought."---Kaze sides with Nohr during the war. In the aftermath, he has to face the consequences of his choices.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20





	Traitor Mine

* * *

“Brother, please, it’s over-”

“How dare you speak to me,” Saizo cuts him off, voice dripping with contempt and face bright red in anger. “How dare you even stand in my presence, you _traitor_.”

Kaze flinches at the fire in his twin’s words.

“Saizo…”

“ _Do not.”_ The red haired ninja takes a threatening step towards his brother. “Lord Ryoma is _dead._ And _you_ sided with his _killers._ My brother, working together with _Nohrian conquerors._ ”

“Lord Corrin never wanted-!”

Saizo roars and throws a punch, swerving at the last second to punch the wall of the room he’d formerly been held prisoner in. “DAMN YOU-!”

“Brother!” Kaze immediately takes his twin’s now-bleeding hand in his. Without hesitation, Kaze yanks his scarf free and wraps it around Saizo’s injury. The other ninja, stunned into silence, takes a moment to come to his senses. He tears his arm free from Kaze’s grip and snarls at him.

“ _Do not touch me,”_ Saizo spat, “You’re a _disgrace_ to our clan. To our parents. To _me._ You make me _sick.”_

Before Kaze can reply, his twin vanishes.

* * *

“I’m sure he’ll come around eventually,” Silas tries to comfort his downtrodden friend. Though Kaze wouldn’t admit it aloud, Saizo’s disappearance weighs heavily on his shoulders. He should’ve figured Silas knew him well enough to tell.

So Kaze just hums in acknowledgement. The silver haired cavalier gives him a worried look before finishing off the letter he’d been writing. Kaze normally wouldn’t have bothered him so late at night, but it turns out Silas was just as awake as the ninja.

“Please, Kaze, don’t talk my ear off,” Silas teases lightheartedly, setting his quill pen down on the desk. Kaze watches as the cavalier carefully folds the letter and tucks it into a pristine white envelope.

“If I may ask, who are you writing to?” Kaze breaks the silence to ask, trying to spark a conversation. Any excuse to stay a little longer, anything to get his mind off of his twin.

“My mother,” Kaze arches an eyebrow, “She’s been worried ever since we crossed into Hoshidan territory, and I’ve decided to take advantage of our down time to write to her.” Silas turns his head to smile at the ninja. “Family is important, after all. Given time, Kaze, he’ll return.”

Despite Silas’s attempt at comfort, Saizo’s last words still echo in Kaze’s head.

_You make me_ sick.

“That… is just it. I am not sure if he will, Silas. And I…” Kaze tries so hard not to think about how Saizo is the only family he has left. Tries, and fails. “And I miss him.”

Cheeks burning with shame, Kaze feels the unfamiliar burn of tears pooling in his eyes.

* * *

“Watch out!” Kaze immediately ducks out of the way as a kodachi slices through the air beside him. A shuriken whizzes by and the samurai responsible for the attack crumples.

Adrenaline roaring in his ears, Kaze brandishes his own shuriken as he scans the alleyway for more attackers. One second he’d been cutting through a shortcut in the Hoshidan capital on the way to the market, the next he was under attack.

“Thank you-” Kaze turns to thank the person who’d saved him and stops short. Though her hair was shorter now and there were unmistakable bags under her eyes, she was still a sight for sore eyes.

“No need to thank me, Kaze,” Kagero dismisses, walking breezily past him to retrieve her shuriken from the assailant’s body. Kaze lost his voice, unable to reply to her. He just stood there, gawking. The kunoichi gives him a peculiar look. “Kitsune got your tongue? Were you not on the way to the market? I remember us taking this same path many a time on excursions for… Lord Ryoma. Come, shall we continue together?”

Kagero reaches out a hand to him and Kaze blinks, overwhelmed with relief. He manages a kind smile and takes the offered hand.

“It would be my honor, Kagero. It’s… good to see you again,” He tells her through the lump in his throat. He can’t help but wonder why Kagero doesn’t turn her weapons on him and call him a traitor like other Hoshidans. He doesn’t ask, though, and Kagero simply smiles at him.

“Yes… It’s good to see you again as well, old friend.”

* * *

“I see you have not given up your painting.”

Kagero hums from her perch atop a claimed barrel. The ceaseless wind of Castle Shirasagi ruffles through her short hair and offers a respite from the early summer heat. Kaze finds her here most mornings now, hidden away in her alcove with an easel perched in front of her.

Though today, her subject didn’t seem to be the beautiful Hoshidan landscape.

“Do you miss her?” Kaze asks softly. Kagero’s paintbrush stills mid-stroke, and the hand holding it trembles ever so slightly.

The kunoichi takes a deep, steadying breath. “...Yes.”

Kaze knows that, despite her friendliness towards him, he is still partially to blame for her loss and her sadness. Kagero, always the strong, steady one of their trio, is a little bent now… as if weighed down by the horrors of war.

“Kagero I… I am so…” Overwhelmed by guilt, again he feels the shameful burn of tears in his eyes. Kagero sets her brush down and stands up, startling him. She turns to Kaze with tears in her own eyes.

“I know,” Kaze blinks, “You would never… Never hurt anyone if not for the right reasons. I _know_ you, Kaze. Kind to a fault… and naive. Nothing can bring back the dead,” She explains, furiously wiping her tears away. “Nothing can bring back Lord Ryoma. Nor Lady Mikoto, nor Reina, nor Oboro, nor Hinata, nor… N-nor Orochi.” Her voice breaks and she turns away.

Ninja are trained from a young age never to be so open and vulnerable around others, lest it cost them their lives, but this was different. Kaze steps forward and opens his arms to embrace her, but pauses in hesitation. Kagero doesn’t wait and lurches forward, wrapping her arms around him as sob breaks from her throat.

He holds her close and lets his own tears fall.

* * *

Kaze could barely find the strength to attend Lady Hinoka’s coronation. There would be so many familiar faces from Hoshido… and so many reminders of those who had died in the war. How could he face them?

With Kagero’s silent comfort and Silas’s steady presence beside him, somehow he found it. There he stood, in Castle Shirasagi’s throne room, bearing witness to the coronation of Queen Hinoka. ( _It was supposed to be King Ryoma.)_ Hinoka seems too small in her coronation robes and too small for the intricate crown placed upon her head by the head of the Dawn Dragon faith.

Hinoka straightens, and she looks so much older than the princess he parted ways with at Notre Sagesse. Wiser, sadder. She raises her ceremonial lance above her head and those in attendance bow before their new Queen.

In the celebration that followed, Kaze isn’t surprised to note Saizo’s absence. No one has seen him since his disappearance, and all of the Nohrian nobles were on high alert for a possible assassination attempt. Yet, weeks later, still nothing.

Kaze did, however, see several of the familiar faces he’d been trying to avoid. Setsuna, Azama, Subaki, Hana… Lady Sakura.

Even Sakura seems aged by the war, her young face lined with troubles she never should’ve been forced to face. Some of them were even courtesy of her poor treatment as King Garon’s prisoner. Kaze’s chest tightens painfully at the sight. He wants to go to her and tell her he was truly sorry-

“Nice of you to show your face,” Subaki greets with hostile politeness, stepping into Kaze’s path and blocking Sakura from his sight. If the uncharacteristic slightness of frame and bags under his eyes were anything to judge by, the sky knight was still recovering from the effects of being Nohr’s prisoner. After the fact, Lord Corrin had learned that he and Hana were treated even more poorly than Lady Sakura. Kaze couldn’t blame Subaki for his agitation.

“Nice to see you too, Subaki,” The ninja replies softly, guilt clawing at his throat and making it hard to breath. The room seems too cramped and too crowded all of a sudden. Subaki takes a step towards him.

“Any word from Saizo, yet?” Subaki asks, a poisonous smile on his face. Kaze shakes his head and braces for whatever venom the other man has prepared. “Ah, of course not. Saizo is a reasonable man. And what reasonable man would want anything to do with a _traitor?_ ”

Kaze winces and steps back, but Subaki follows, only inches away. “Don’t think I haven’t been watching you, Nohrian snake. Stay away from Queen Hinoka, and don’t even _look_ at Lady Sakura. I won’t hesitate to hack your head off like the vermin you are.”

Satisfied, Subaki steps back. The poison is gone, but the smile he flashes is false all the same. The sky knight turns on his heel without another word and goes to join Sakura and Hana.

Kaze feels like throwing up.

* * *

Shortly after Queen Hinoka’s coronation, the new leader of Hoshido sponsors an operation to clear out the Mokushu ninja from the former country of Kohga. If one good thing came from the betrayal of the former Mokushu daimyo, it was revealing the crimes committed against the countries they’d conquered.

Kaze had been there when Saizo and Shura finished off Kotaro together. He’d listened while the two men got their revenge for the misdeeds committed against them. Shura for the loss of his homeland, Kohga. Saizo for the loss of their father. 

Saizo knowing the identity of their father’s killer was something the ninja had kept to himself until that moment. Kaze had never known, living his life in blissful ignorance while Saizo shouldered the burden alone.

_(But that’s just how Saizo was. Is.)_

Somewhere deep down, it felt unfair that Saizo kept the identity of their father’s murderer to himself. That he’d suffered alone for years with the knowledge and the scars left from the failed attempt on the daimyo’s life.

And now, Saizo himself might as well be dead to him.

Rain falls onto Kaze’s shoulders, soaking into the material of his shirt. He starts, looking up at the now-cloudy sky. How long had he been standing there, lost in his thoughts?

Kaze rolls his shoulder and runs a hand through his hair. He looks back down at the sleek black gravestone in front of him. The incense stick at the bottom had long been put out by the falling water, yet the familiar fragrance lingers faintly in the air.

“Well, this will be the last visit before my return from the Kohga campaign,” Kaze murmurs into the silence. “Goodbye for now… Father, mother.”

_(Are you watching over me? Do you understand why I’ve done what I’ve done?)_

* * *

As it turns out, the Mokushu campaign is a great distraction.

Battle after battle, Kaze throws himself wholly into the fight. Against the Mokushu forces, there’s no time to reminisce about days gone by. No time to remember the sound of Orochi’s laughter or the soft whirring of Fujin Yumi. No time to think about how Raijinto crackled to life in the hands of Lord Ryoma as the man plunged it into his own gut-

"Kaze."

The ninja startles, letting the shuriken he'd been holding clatter to the floor. He whirls around, looking for the culprit.

_Rinkah._

The last time he'd seen her was when they parted ways at Notre Sagesse… when Kaze joined Nohr and turned his back on Hoshido. Back then he'd been naive and idealistic. He never stopped to consider the fallout.

"It's not like you to lower your guard," Rinkah comments, leaning against her club. "If I was an enemy, you'd be dead."

"Implying you're not my enemy, then?" Kaze ventures. He wasn't sure where he and Rinkah stood. Was he an enemy to her-like he was to Subaki-or did her status as simply an ally to Hoshido lessen the burn of his betrayal?

"...I guess so," Rinkah answers after a moment, rolling a shoulder. "Anyway, since you're here, I have a question to ask."

"Go ahead."

"What are you doing here, in Kohga?"

Kaze blinks. He wasn't expecting that question, out of the hundreds she could've asked. He's silent for a moment. Rinkah looks at him before lifting her club up and going over to one of the training dummies set up.

"You're not ready to deal with moving on," she guesses offhandedly, taking a swing at the dummy. "Fighting... can be a good distraction, when you don't want to face the facts."

"You sound like you know from experience," Kaze licks his suddenly dry lips, not prepared for the warrior to read him like an open book.

"I do," Rinkah says with a grunt, bringing her club down in a powerful arc. "It's how I dealt with the failure at Notre Sagesse. You're just a ninja... while I'm the future Chieftain of my tribe. Your failures and mine are weighted differently. So I threw myself into fighting to try and prove myself-and my tribe-to Hoshido again."

"I..." Kaze tries to find the words. He never thought about what would happen to her after Notre Sagesse, let alone her tribe. _Selfish_. "Is... that why you're here?"

Rinkah lifts the club onto her shoulder and looks at him. "Yeah. Plus, there's... peace in fighting. When you're in a battle, there's no time to think about your past failures or disappointments, only the weapon in your hand and the enemy in front of you."

"Rinkah, I-"

But she ignores him and throws herself back into training. After a beat, Kaze stoops to pick up his dropped shuriken and goes to do the same.

_(Am I chasing after peace? Or am I chasing after something else entirely?)_

* * *

Rinkah's words weigh heavily on Kaze's mind. What was he doing in Kohga? Was it just an easy distraction, or something else? 

Kaze's shuriken strikes true and another enemy falls. In the moment between their fall and the selection of a new target, Kaze briefly considers a world where he is cut down instead. Would anyone mourn over the loss of a traitor?

Then the next enemy comes, and Kaze throws himself into the fight anew.

Until, that is, he catches a flash of red from the corner of his eye. _Saizo_? Kaze whirls to the side just as a blade slashes through the air beside him. Then he's bringing his own sword up to counter a vicious swipe to his face.

Kaze looks up into the face of Saizo, his twin. His heart starts hammering in his chest and the world tilts. He feels sick. "Brother?" He chokes out, weakly. _Is this how it ends?_ _Cut down by my own blood?_

Kaze blinks. Two intact, pale green eyes stare back at him in confusion. In the beat that passes, a javelin cuts through the air and fells the enemy soldier. Kaze staggers back and falls to his knees. His stomach churns. He tries not to look at the body of Saizo-no, just a Mokushu ninja. _It's not Saizo, it's not him._

"Kaze, are you alright?!" Kaze barely registers the question, let alone the horse and rider who come skidding to a stop beside him. The world won't stop spinning. Kaze empties what little he'd had for breakfast onto the grass. His entire body was trembling. Silas slides from his mare to kneel beside him, warm hand rubbing circles between the ninja's shoulder blades.

_(Brother, will you come for me someday? To make me pay for what I've done?)_

* * *

"Like we'd hand over information to some dishonorable ninja like _you_!" The Mokushu prisoner spits the last word at Kaze. The words cut like a knife and Kaze winces before reaching up to wipe the spittle away.

"Oh dear, it doesn't seem like things are going too well, hm?" The ninja sighs as a familiar man casually strolls out from nearby shadows. If anyone could out-sneak the ninja, it’s Niles.

"I am perfectly able to handle this interrogation on my own, Niles," Kaze forces out, not wanting to appear weak in front of the prisoners. The last thing he needs is for Niles to rub salt into still-open wounds, something he knows the outlaw is adept at.

"Oh really? So, what information have you unearthed so far?"

Kaze looks to the side and sighs. "Fine, you have at them, then." He surrenders, turning to leave. It isn't worth being demeaned in front of the enemy over.

Niles catches his arm before the ninja could get too far. Without a word, he hooks an elbow through Kaze's own and walks the other man to the makeshift prison's entrance. Baffled, Kaze lets him.

"Not that your pain isn't _delicious_ ," Niles drawls, letting go of the other man's arm and stepping aside, "But it's been a while since the end of the war. Maybe you shouldn't be here. Considering some of the things I've heard... Maybe you should be trying to put yourself together instead of trying so hard to fall apart."

Kaze looks at the man in shock. Niles shrugs nonchalantly.

"Just a thought."

* * *

Kaze finds himself unable to sleep. Or, well, he tried to sleep, but his dreams turned into nightmares filled with the corpses of red-haired ninjas and of former allies. Eventually he gave up the notion and decided to go for a walk to clear his head instead.

And yet, after making a complete circuit of their makeshift camp, his mind is far from clear.

The faces from his dreams follow at his heels. Orochi, Reina, Hinata, Oboro... People he once knew and worked with. People he once called his friends. Yes, he'd made plenty of new friends in the Nohr army, but what is a year of camaraderie in Nohr versus the years of friendships in Hoshido?

Kaze turns a corner and finds himself in the camp's makeshift training area. He immediately fetches a wooden blade and levels it at a training dummy. A sudden anger rises in him and he grips the hilt hard. Who is there to take out his anger on? Not Nohr-he’s the one who sided with them-and not Hoshido-their anger towards him is justified.

So that left only one person to direct his anger at: Himself.

With a guttural roar, Kaze launches at the training dummy. He hacks at it until his hands are raw from his crushing grip on bare wood, until sweat is pouring off his skin in the breezeless late spring night, until his lungs and chest ache from the exertion.

And still he isn't satisfied. Will he ever be satisfied? Will any amount of suffering he bears be worth the suffering he's caused through his actions?

"Kaze, what are you doing?" _Silas_.

"I'm just training," Kaze pants out, wiping his sweaty palms off on the fabric of his pants. Silas walks out into the training area with a blonde-haired woman at his side. Kaze remembers her, the border guard Charlotte. He notices a bundle held delicately in her arms.

"Seems like a bit more than 'just training'," Charlotte comments, not bothering with her usual delicate maiden act. "Hey, now remind me, aren't you the guy who barfed during a fight a few days ago? Seems to me like you should be resting instead."

Kaze winces at her bluntness. "I'm fine."

"Kaze," Silas crosses his arms, a concerned look on his face. "You really should be resting."

"I...can't sleep," Kaze rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, looking away from the two of them. He hates showing weakness. Disowned or not, he couldn't escape his ninja upbringing. Ninjas never show weakness in front of others.

Silas and Charlotte exchange a look before the blonde woman hands the bundle over to him. "Here, you deal with this. I have a patrol with Kagero in a few minutes anyway."

Then, it's just Kaze and Silas in the training area. Silas walks to Kaze's side and gently takes his wooden sword away with his free hand. Kaze lets him, too tired to argue. Then the cavalier holds an elbow out to Kaze. "C'mon, Kaze, let's get you to bed."

The ninja takes the offered elbow and lets Silas lead him out of the training area.

* * *

Kaze wakes from a dreamless sleep to sunlight streaming through a crack in his tent's flaps. He sits up while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. A gentle snore from beside his bedroll startles the ninja. He turns to see Silas perched on a box and leaning against one of the tent's poles.

He must've sensed Kaze's movements, because in the next moment the cavalier is blinking his eyes open and stretching.

"Good morning," Kaze greets him, raising an eyebrow. "Did you sleep well?"

Silas smiles at him sheepishly. "Hm, well, as well as could be expected while leaning against a wooden pole. I uh, wanted to make sure you fell asleep alright, but I guess I was pretty tired myself."

Before Kaze could reply, the flap to his tent was being pulled open. "Oh, Silas, there you are!" The blonde woman from earlier says cheerfully, letting herself into the tent. Following her through the flap, to Kaze's slight surprise, was Kagero. "We went to your tent first but you weren't there. Then I figured you might be looking after the sick ninja, and viola!"

"Ah, yeah, I fell asleep while trying to make sure he fell asleep," Silas explains, rubbing the back of his neck. Charlotte crosses her arms and gives him a reprimanding look.

"Really Silas? Did you even give him the bundle like we'd planned?" Charlotte asks, raising an eyebrow at the cavalier. While the two of them were bickering, Kagero silently makes her away around Charlotte and sits down next to Kaze on the bedroll. She presses the back of her hand to Kaze's forehead and then pulls it away once satisfied.

"No fever," She comments, gently brushing aside his messy bangs. "How do you feel, Kaze? I got back from my recon mission yesterday... I'd no idea you were ill."

"I... I'm fine, Kagero, really," Kaze tells her softly, hoping Charlotte and Silas couldn't hear him over their argument. "I... One of the Mokushu ninja... I thought I saw Saizo, but I didn't." Kagero's eye widens slightly before she nods in understanding. Before she can reply to him, the other two turn their attention on them.

"Well, there's no time like the present to give it to him," Charlotte announces gesturing to Kaze. "Go on, give him the bundle Silas."

Silas runs a hand through his hair, slicking it back, and sighs. He gently grabs the bundle from the ground beside him and leans over to hand it to Kaze. The ninja takes it and places it on his lap.

"What's in it?" Kaze asks, hesitating to open it.

"Well, when we, aka me, heard you weren't doing too well... I went around and got some odds and ends that should make you feel better," Charlotte starts to explain, grinning and obviously proud of herself. "When a friend is in pain, I can't just turn a blind eye to it. And it turns out a lot of our camarades felt the same way. So, we all pitched in something. Go on, open it!"

So the bundle was a gift... a gift from the friends he'd made in the Nohrian army. Kaze gulps and loosens the ribbon keeping the box shut. Then he lifts the lid of it and starts taking items out of it. A charm from Nyx, what seemed to be a book of fairytales from Odin, an arrangement of tonics from Niles, a package of snacks from Charlotte, a new set of shuriken from Kagero, and...

"I noticed your old one was missing," Silas comments as Kaze gingerly lifts a lilac scarf from the bundle. _That's right... I used my old scarf to wrap Saizo's hand before he..._

Kaze balls his fists in the fabric of the scarf, tears pooling fast and hot in his eyes. Kagero and Charlotte look at each other in alarm while Silas immediately moves from his box to the floor beside Kaze. "Kaze? Was the scarf a bad idea? I'm sorry if I offended-"

"N-no, the scarf... is wonderful. I love it, thank you," Kaze manages to squeeze the words past the lump in his throat. "I just, I..."

Charlotte leans down to gently tug at Kagero's arm. An unspoken message passes between them and Kagero lets Charlotte lead her up and out of the tent. In the next second, Silas is pulling Kaze into his arms and smoothing a comforting hand over Kaze's hair.

"S-saizo has my old scarf," Kaze admits, trying to hold back the sobs that desperately want to break free. The gifts... knowing he did still have friends who care for him... the missing scarf and the missing twin... Everything is suddenly too much and Kaze dissolves into sobs.

_(I really need to let go of the past, don't I?)_

* * *

Weeks later, when the campaign to free Kohga of the Mokushu occupation came to an end, it was a relief.

Kaze has seen enough blood and death to last a lifetime. With the end of the campaign came a revelation as well. Kaze realized that, like Rinkah, he wanted to prove himself worthy in the eyes of his allies and worthy to his brother. But his allies who remained already thought him worthy, and Saizo was gone. Nothing Kaze could do now would bring him back.

So, despite the arrival of summer, Kaze wears his new scarf wrapped securely around his neck.

Soon the ceremony to officially recognize Shura as the new daimyo of Kohga would take place, and after that the restoration efforts would begin. He knew that several allies had already pledged their help to the efforts; Kagero among them.

There would be soldiers from both Nohr and Hoshido at the ceremony. A part of him hesitated at the thought of running into another bitter ally, like Subaki, but he would also be among friends like Silas and Kagero.

So, he decides to go to the coronation anyway.

* * *

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" Kaze breathes a sigh of relief at the sound of Silas's voice. The cavalier, dressed in formal attire for the occasion, certainly cleaned up well. He was also a welcome sight, as his presence spares Kaze from having to mingle among the strangers present.

"Greetings, my friend," Kaze greets, an easy smile on his face. Silas smiles back as he goes to stand by Kaze's side.

"Can you believe the campaign is already over?" Silas comments, looking around the throne room. The Mokushu had been kind enough to keep Kohga's ruling palace in decent shape, including the room where the coronation would take place. "It passed us by pretty quick."

"That it did," Kaze agrees, nodding.

"Silas! Kaze! There you two are," A familiar voice calls, cutting their conversation short. Charlotte, arm-in-arm with Kagero, is waving at them from across the room.

"You certainly look nice with your new scarf," Kagero comments once the two of them were close enough, reaching out to adjust the fabric ever so slightly. "Purple always was your color." A hint of sadness flashes in her eyes, but she blinks and it's gone.

"Thank you, Kagero," Kaze smiles at her and she smiles back. He notices that her hair has grown out again, and her cheekbones look fuller than that day in the alleyway so long ago.

"Yeah, yeah, we all look good today," Charlotte smirks, flipping a lock of blonde hair behind her shoulder. "Silas, you're Corrin's retainer, so how true are the rumors about her and Shura getting married?"

Silas shakes his head at her. "You know I can't give out that information until the actual announcement is made, right?"

"Marriage, huh?" Kaze comments, considering it. "I never thought the two of them would end up together. But, they _do_ make a lovely couple. And she was the one who helped set up the campaign, after all."

"Hey, I didn't say they're getting married-"

"You don't have to, you can tell by the way your ears are turning red," Kaze interrupts teasingly.

"Kaze, who's side are you on?!" Silas gives the other man a faux-wounded look while Charlotte and Kagero laugh.

Before Kaze could reply, someone began to announce the beginning of the ceremony. Silas bids them goodbye and goes to take his place at Corrin's side. The other three also go to take their places. Moving among the crowd, Kaze can't help but to look for Saizo's face.

But yet again, his twin was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Kaze stays to help with the rebuilding efforts for a while. There are still a few remaining Mokushu strongholds, populated by Kotaro loyalists, that have to be dealt with. Corrin, ever at Shura's side, helps negotiate a steady stream of soldiers and supplies from both Nohr and Hoshido.

Though Kaze sees Corrin less than when the Nohr-Hoshido war was in full swing, he still feels like he made the right choice all those months ago. She managed to end a war that had stretched for centuries, after all. He thinks about the war still, mostly on quiet nights where he's unable to fall asleep. He thinks about the former allies he helped cut down, but also the friends he made and helped to protect.

As the weeks go by, an official announcement of marriage is made between Corrin and Shura. (Upon hearing the news, Charlotte comments "I knew it," while Silas shakes his head. Kaze and Kagero still find the antics between them amusing.) Again, everyone gathers at the Kohga ruling palace for the ceremony and celebration.

Saizo is absent from the festivities.

* * *

"What do you mean, you're leaving?" Silas asks, his eyes wide in shock.

A cool evening breeze wafts in through the open windows in the ninja's temporary residence. Silas had come for a friendly visit and hadn't expected to arrive in the midst of Kaze packing.

The ninja carefully folds another set of clothes, tucking it into one of his satchels. "I am going away." He explains, moving to fold another set of clothes.

Kaze has had plenty of time to ponder both Niles's and Rinkah's odd words of wisdom. Eventually, he'd come to the conclusion that they were both right, in their own ways. Kaze was using Mokushu as a distraction and he needed time to pull himself back together. Thus, he made the plan to return to Igasato, where he and Saizo had been born and raised. He would, however slowly, rebuild his honor as a ninja, and therefore rebuild himself.

"I thought you were going to pledge yourself to Lady Corrin, eventually?" Silas pulls the chair out from the desk in the room and sits down. "And the rebuilding isn't over yet. Weren't you going to stay till the end?"

"Plans change, my friend," Kaze packs the last of his clothes away before looking at Silas. The cavalier looks distraught, and it makes his chest tighten. "...I will return, one day. If there is still a position open, perhaps I will take it." He clarifies, though Silas's face only slightly lifts.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Silas asks, sighing, knowing he can't change Kaze's mind. It wasn't as if the choice of leaving his friends was an easy one, but it was something Kaze had to do.

"Yes. Please, tell Kagero that I am going home."

Kaze and Silas exchange goodbyes. Then, the ninja lifts his bags onto his shoulders and leaves.

* * *

Their childhood home has stood vacant for several years now, Kaze can tell as he throws open a door to let in sunlight. Cobwebs, dust, dirt, animal feces... The whole scene looks like quite the project.

Kaze is more than ready for it, though.

He ties his scarf around his mouth and nose, rolls up the sleeves on his shirt, and then he goes to work with his broom. He whips up a cloud of dust through the entire empty house. Luckily, as ninja live with meager belongings, anything with sentimental value is tucked safely away in boxes.

As the day wears on, Kaze strips down to just the scarf and work trousers. The hard work is both relaxing and taxing, thanks to the midsummer heat. Nohr, the land without light, had been so cold compared to the temperate weather of Hoshido. He’d missed it.

Kaze decides to finish for the first day as the sun begins to set behind the mountain peaks. The house certainly looks better than it had earlier in the day, and definitely smells better. He then sits down on the porch with a cup of water. He uses the remaining light to work on letters to his friends back in Kohga. Then, he simply watches the sky.

Weeks go by. Kaze goes back into training, eager to prove himself despite the hesitancy with which the elder ninja accept him back into their ranks. Being re-trained will be worth it in the end, of course, despite the grueling work days.

Kagero, usually accompanied by Charlotte or Silas, comes by every now and again. She is one of the few who knew the way into the ninja village, having trained under the elder ninja there herself. Sometimes she is accompanied by old friends from Hoshido or Nohr who want to see him. One time, even Lord Corrin and Lord Shura came.

"How goes the reconstruction of Kohga?" Kaze asks, pouring tea for his two visitors. Corrin takes it with a smile and sips away while Shura grins at him.

"The efforts are going well, thanks to you and everyone who volunteered to help. It still feels like a dream, sometimes," He replies before looking down at his teacup with a sigh. "And with everything I had to do just to survive to get here... It feels like something I don't deserve."

Corrin places a hand on Shura's arm at those words. "You did what you had to. Living in the past isn't good for you."

Shura sighs again, but with a certain fondness. It's obvious the two of them have had this talk before. Kaze can't help but feel a spike of curiosity. "You mean, becoming an outlaw in Nohr's underground?"

The older man nods. "Unfortunately so. When Hoshido denied me and other Kohga survivors asylum, I... I did what I had to do to keep me and them safe. Killing, robbing, pillaging... Behaving no better than a baseborn brigand," Shura's grip on his teacup tightens, then he takes a deep breath and sets it down. "But, no matter how hard we try, no one can change the past. All I can do is focus on the future now. Restoring Kohga will be my atonement."

"And mine," Corrin adds, softly, rubbing circles into Shura's arm. There's a sadness in her eyes as she looks up at Kaze. "This war has resulted in a lot of hard decisions... But it's over now. All we can do is move on."

Kaze knows that all too well. The knowledge that others feel the consequences of their actions just as heavily as he does... it brings Kaze the smallest bit of relief.

* * *

Before Kaze knows it, the final day of summer is upon them. The cool autumn winds were already making their home among the mountains of Igasato, and later in the evening the festival celebrating the coming of darkness would begin. The festival is an old ninja tradition, which became an excuse to have a day for young ninja-in-training to relax before the harshness of training in the winter.

There was no festival the previous year due to the war, and this year would be the first time Kaze attended without his twin by his side.

Some little part of Kaze held on to the hope that Saizo would return; that they would go to the festival together like always (if not without Saizo's grumbling that they were too old to attend). Kaze had thought ahead, of course. He made arrangements for Kagero, Charlotte, and Silas to attend the festival with him, as his guests.

Kaze remembers going to the festival with his father and Saizo, when they were younger. Saizo, who was more proficient at shuriken throwing than Kaze had been, had won him a crudely made stuffed koi. Kaze had treasured the koi like a precious gemstone. In fact, he'd found the old toy while going through boxes of their valuables. Overcome with sentimentality, Kaze sat the koi on the shelf above his bedroll.

Thinking of the toy, of the lengths Saizo had gone through to win it in the first place, made tears well in Kaze's eyes. Moving on was one thing, but letting go of something as precious as his last remaining family...

Kaze allows himself a moment to grieve. Silent sobs wrack his body as he pulls his knees to his chest. When the tears would no longer fall, Kaze wipes his eyes and looks up at the evening sky.

"Father, I hope you understand the choices I've made..." He whispers into the quiet, his voice strained and hoarse. "And brother... I can only pray that you one day forgive me... that one day you come home. Until then, all I can do is atone for the lives I've taken."

Behind him, Kaze hears a soft thud. He stiffens in alarm, immediately thinking he's under attack. But no attack comes. Instead, someone moves out of the shadows and sits down beside the man.

"It's been a long time, little brother."

A little thinner, a little more ragged, but one thing was certain…

Saizo had returned home.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a much longer rewrite of a fic I wrote back in 2016, when Fates initially came out, but wasn't satisfied with. So, 6.3k words and a month after I started rewriting it, here we are! I tried my best to make sure it flowed well and told a cohesive story, so I hope you enjoyed reading it!


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